A DRY autumnal-feeling evening greeted drivers, teams and fans as they gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway for the latest slice of stock car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions, writes Les Waller.

Championship fever continued this past Saturday as the 2.0 Hot Rods gathered in good numbers to contest their biggest domestic event of the season – the 2015 Scottish Championship.

It was good to see newlywed National Points Champion, Kerr Paterson, in attendance and it was to be a busy night for the Gauldry pilot as he would also be making his National Hot Rod debut.

The first heat saw a healthy twelve cars take to the grid and it was the aforementioned Paterson who took full advantage of his starting position to head the field home to take the victory!

National Points leader, Robbie Burgoyne, came home in second with defending Scottish Champion Gordon Alexander claiming the third podium position. The second heat saw the drivers start in reverse order from heat one but that didn’t deter Burgoyne who sliced his way through the field to find himself in victory lane at the end of the twenty lap race while Paterson finished in second place ahead of Gill Anderson.

Kerr Paterson won the tie-breaker between himself and Burgoyne to claim pole position for the big race with European Champion Kenny Purdie lined up on row two.

After a couple of attempts, the race finally got underway with Paterson surging straight into the lead ahead of Burgoyne and Paterson proceeded to reel off the laps in quick succession.

European Champion Purdie came a cropper when his Saxo hit a marker tyre but Paterson held his nerve to add the Scottish Championship to his National Points title ahead of Robbie Burgoyne and outgoing champion Gordon Alexander, who made a staunch defence of his title.

The National Hot Rods saw a rather poor turnout of just six cars, the event also saw the HRP debut of former Superstox racer Matt McPherson, plus Kerr Paterson in the borrowed John Sibbald Tigra.

There are more cars in the country and the difficulty for all Scottish tracks seems to be getting these drivers in the same place at the same time! Nevertheless, the racing between those drivers in attendance was lively – unless you were Tam Rutherford!

With a highly advantageous starting slot, Rutherford enjoyed a trouble-free run in heat one as he took victory ahead of Ian Donaldson and the returning Graeme Callender who made a welcome comeback to the ovals after a period of absence.

With the grids unchanged for the second race, Rutherford and Donaldson repeated their race results from heat one with Kerr Paterson posting a hard-earned third from the rear of the grid. In a mirror image of heat two; Rutherford showed the field a clean pair of heels to take a faultless hat-trick in the feature final with Donaldson claiming a trio of runner-up positions while Paterson underlined his National Hot Rod potential with another third place.

The CC Rods were back in action again this past Saturday and while Ian Snr was enjoying a good day in his National Hot Rod; Ian Donaldson Jr had an even better day in terms of results in his CC Rod.

Donaldson claimed the first win of the day as he beat Lochgelly’s Johnny Bell and Kirkcaldy’s Craig Watson to the finish line. A huge rollover for Kevin Connor in heat two put paid to his evening but did not deter Lanarkshire’s Donaldson who held on to win ahead of Watson and Bell who swapped positions from heat one. The feature final saw Donaldson once again stamp his authority on the evening’s proceedings as he went on to claim a fantastic hat-trick of wins with Bell and Watson repeating their heat one finishes on good nights for both of the Fife drivers.

The youngsters in their Ministox returned to HRP Lochgelly Raceway this past Saturday and it was pleasing to see a good number of cars in the pits.

There was also a welcome visitor in the shape of Midlands driver Tom Gresinger who was making his HRP debut. Without a shadow of doubt, the Ministox have been dominated by two drivers this year in the shape of Euan Millar and Steven Burgoyne, with these two drivers taking the majority of wins across the country during the year.

The top two in the HRP Lochgelly Raceway Track Championship began heat one in their usual fashion as they sliced their way through the field with Millar claiming the win while Bryan Lindsay managed to squeeze Burgoyne down to third place as he took a fine second place. The second heat saw Burgoyne make no such mistakes as he stormed to an excellent win ahead of Millar and Charlie Folan. The feature final was, as always, a fast-paced race and it was Millar who got the upper hand on his nemesis Burgoyne as he outpaced the Airth driver to take his second win of the day with Burgoyne coming home second and Folan yet again claiming third. Tom Gresinger clearly enjoyed his HRP Lochgelly Raceway debut as he took a hat-trick of fifth places on his first ever visit to the track. A great night of racing from the Ministox as always.

The fifth and final formula on show were the Superstox. A slightly low-key affair was only to be expected with their World Championship just one week away but some extra spice was added to the evening as Scottish Champion Stuart Gilchrist arrived for what has been an all too rare appearance in 2015.

Gilchrist’s presence was felt immediately as he stormed through the field to claim only his second win of the season ahead of 2015 teen sensation Aaron Riddell and Lee Clark. Gilchrist repeated his race-winning exploits in heat two with another win ahead of the chasing Bryan Forrest and Gary Nicholls.

Nicholls is a late entrant to the World Championship and fellow World Finalist Gilchrist was the only driver to get ahead of Nicholls in the feature final as the Lanarkshire driver took a hat-trick of wins to boost his gold-roof aspirations while Nicholls can also head to Northern Ireland knowing his car is well on the pace as he beat Lee Clark who finished third.

Fifteen races and all finished comfortably ahead of schedule – well done to all drivers, teams and staff on their hard work and diligence during the evening’s racing.

Championship Fever continues this Saturday September 26 at HRP Lochgelly Raceway as the 1300 Stock Cars contest their Scottish Championship in one of the most-eagerly anticipated fixtures of the season.

Over THIRTY cars are currently booked in for what promises to be a cracking evening of racing as Jason Secker defends his title as he goes for an unprecedented three in a row! The 2.0 Hot Rods, CC Rods and Ninja Karts provide the support in a fixture that begins at 5:45pm this Saturday.